Saturday, 13 February 2016

MWC16 Jolla Sailfish OS Intex Aqua Fish

Jolla at Mobile World Congress 2016

Event of the year on mobile markets, MWC16 Barcelona, Spain takes place on February 22nd - 25th 2016. Jolla is present 4th time in a row with the latest news on Sailfish OS and its journey towards new devices and countries. After a pretty bad last year, expectations for a better one are high.

MWC16 Event: Jolla, Sailfish OS, Intex Aqua Fish and more

February 22 - 25, Fira Gran Via, Barcelona, Spain

Worth a read? Please share:

"Jolla Ltd., the mobile company from Finland, is the developer of Sailfish OS", "The first Sailfish OS mobile product, the Jolla Smartphone, was first introduced in November 2013; in November 2014 Jolla introduced the Jolla Tablet project. The first licensing deal for Sailfish OS with Intex Technologies was announced in July 2015." (via MWC)

I've confirmed with Intex that their Sailfish OS phone will not be launched by them during the event. However, a prototype of this new phone is at Intex booth in Hall 7 while Jolla focuses on negotiations in an exhibition meeting room of their own in Hall 2. Intex also shared to us that they are still unsure on the launch date in India, currently aiming for the first week of May, 2016.Original post, February 13, 2016:

You can find Jolla in Hall 2, room 2EMR.K6. At MWC16 Event we will hear, as already confirmed by Jolla, introduction of the next official Sailfish OS phone Intex Aqua Fish (Facts updated). It will be launched to the market in India later in the spring exclusive via Snapdeal online marketplace, and we're expecting to hear mostly about its specs at this point. It'll be introduced most likely as a prototype or as a reference device to gather interest among possible new manufacturers.

While there are no new official Sailfish OS phones currently available, news on expanding the sales outside India are more than expected. Intex has announced a plan to expand the availability of their devices, and Intexsite has already been updated to include Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. They've also announced plans towards Russia and Africa. However, their plan does not list any specific models except for the Aqua Trend. Intex Technologies standis located at Hall 7, Stand 7B44.Snapdeal has an exclusive deal for India for Intex Aqua Fish, and retailers elsewhere have not come out with their plans for Intex devices. On the availability in any other countries we can only wait. Snapdeal does not have a stand at MWC16.

Back to Jolla, also expected and very much wanted are some reveals on new partnerships. On the Jolla's BRICS strategy India is speculated to be followed by Russia. According to Juhani Lassila, Head of communications at Jolla, there is interest towards Sailfish OS also in the political playground.

Several community porting projects, like Sailfish OS on Fairphone 2, are expected to gain publicity during the event. These devices might have even great visibility on this year while the amount of official phones seems to be limited. Fairphone does not have stand at MWC16, but there is personnel present in the MWC.
MWC16 Sailfish OS news in one place

Sailfish OS related news from the event will be updated to our top menu page #MWC16, where you can already find the previous MWC years. Bookmark that!

For all the latest news from this huge international event, follow #mwc16 @twitter. Or hey, will you be on site instead? Btw @JollaFR is there too, follow for updates as well!

To the unlike community:Sailfishos.org website is getting a major update for the event, and Jolla is currently gathering comments on what information should be included there. Together Jolla -members can join the voting and share ideas.

If I had a crystal ball and I could see internal documentation of Jolla...How they imagine running any sustainable business with such things happening _constatnly_?!

I wonder who is the 'mythical investor' who has given them money for continuing their operations. No any (recent) product - c'mon the only available phone is getting older than my granma' :D -, no any partner with real, selling product, everything is either cancelled or fatally delayed. Of course, there is "big interest from different vendors", etc. but nothing real...

If they do not come up with something concrete in Barcelona I start loosing my faith...

Don't get me wrong but the OS itself, without real product(s) that I, the average customer, can (relatively) easily buy, has limited value...

Jolla is 3+ years old and from average customer point of view they are in worse shape than one-two years ago. back then they had a 'new' phone being available 'worldwide' - OK, I know but still - running awaited OS, positive atmosphere around, having big potential back then.

Now they have the very same (aging) phone, miserably failed table project, financial problems, sacked complete HW division, significant staffs sacked/left by themselves - including top guys -, 'many interested partners' who does not come to light, even 'political ones', single one who declared willingness coming out with a phone limited to India, permanently delaying actual shipping date, etc...

So, long story short, they have to come up with something real soon otherwise the will start fading away quickly...